Today, an infrared image capture device is used in various fields. This type of image capture device includes an image capture element and acquires a subject image by photo-electrically converting infrared rays emitted from a subject with the image capture element.
In general, an image capture element is formed of a plurality of pixels and there are individual differences between respective pixels. Further, each pixel outputs inherent noise. In other words, a mixed signal formed of a signal that can be acquired by photo-electrical conversion and a noise signal is output from each pixel. Therefore, a captured image includes a noise image based on an individual difference of a pixel superimposed on an image of a subject only. Thus, it is required to obtain a true subject image by eliminating noise from a captured image.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-207072 discloses an infrared image capture device that eliminates noise (fixed-pattern noise) per pixel by use of an SbNUC (Scene-based Nonuniformity Correction) correction method or an SbFPN (Scene-based Fixed Pattern Noise) correction method.